Ford strikes deal for electric scooter startup

November 8, 2018

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Ford has agreed to acquire Spin for roughly $100 million, per Axios. Spin launched in 2016 as one of the first providers of bikesharing services in the US and has since shifted its focus to electric scooters. The San Francisco-based company raised an $8 million Series A funding led by Grishin Robotics in 2017 at a valuation of $43.2 million.

Ford has been expanding its reach into non-traditional mobility options for some time. It bought Chariot, a commuter shuttle service, in 2016. Early last year, the automaker announced a $1 billion investment in Argo AI to develop a virtual driver system for self-driving cars. Ford partnered with Lyft later in 2017 to work on autonomous vehicle technology. And in July, Ford announced a plan to spend $4 billion over the next five years on a separate autonomous vehicles business.